Sergei Prokofiev

Prokofiev, {{circa|1918}} Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev;}}}}}} ; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''. |group=n}} ( – 5 March 1953)|group=n}} was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who later worked in the Soviet Union. As the creator of acknowledged masterpieces across numerous music genres, he is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century. His works include such widely heard pieces as the March from ''The Love for Three Oranges,'' the suite ''Lieutenant Kijé'', the ballet ''Romeo and Juliet''—from which "Dance of the Knights" is taken—and ''Peter and the Wolf.'' Of the established forms and genres in which he worked, he created—excluding juvenilia—seven completed operas, seven symphonies, eight ballets, five piano concertos, two violin concertos, a cello concerto, a symphony-concerto for cello and orchestra, and nine completed piano sonatas.

A graduate of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, Prokofiev initially made his name as an iconoclastic composer-pianist, achieving notoriety with a series of ferociously dissonant and virtuosic works for his instrument, including his first two piano concertos. In 1915, Prokofiev made a decisive break from the standard composer-pianist category with his orchestral ''Scythian Suite'', compiled from music originally composed for a ballet commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev of the Ballets Russes. Diaghilev commissioned three further ballets from Prokofiev—''Chout,'' ''Le pas d'acier'' and ''The Prodigal Son''—which, at the time of their original production, all caused a sensation among both critics and colleagues. But Prokofiev's greatest interest was opera, and he composed several works in that genre, including ''The Gambler'' and ''The Fiery Angel''. Prokofiev's one operatic success during his lifetime was ''The Love for Three Oranges'', composed for the Chicago Opera and performed over the following decade in Europe and Russia.

After the Revolution of 1917, Prokofiev left Russia with the approval of Soviet People's Commissar Anatoly Lunacharsky, and resided in the United States, then Germany, then Paris, making his living as a composer, pianist and conductor. In 1923 he married a Spanish singer, Carolina (Lina) Codina, with whom he had two sons; they divorced in 1947. In the early 1930s, the Great Depression diminished opportunities for Prokofiev's ballets and operas to be staged in America and Western Europe. Prokofiev, who regarded himself as a composer foremost, resented the time taken by touring as a pianist, and increasingly turned to the Soviet Union for commissions of new music; in 1936, he finally returned to his homeland with his family. His greatest Soviet successes included ''Lieutenant Kijé'', ''Peter and the Wolf'', ''Romeo and Juliet'', ''Cinderella'', ''Alexander Nevsky'', the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies, ''On Guard for Peace'', and the Piano Sonatas Nos. 6–8.

The Nazi invasion of the USSR spurred Prokofiev to compose his most ambitious work, an operatic version of Leo Tolstoy's ''War and Peace''; he co-wrote the libretto with Mira Mendelson, his longtime companion and later second wife. In 1948, Prokofiev was attacked for producing "anti-democratic formalism". Nevertheless, he enjoyed personal and artistic support from a new generation of Russian performers, notably Sviatoslav Richter and Mstislav Rostropovich: he wrote his Ninth Piano Sonata for the former and his Symphony-Concerto for the latter. Provided by Wikipedia
Showing 1 - 20 results of 1,695 for search 'Prokofiev, Sergey, 1891-1953', query time: 0.06s Refine Results
  1. 1

    Symphonies nos. 3 & 4 (first version) by Prokofiev, Sergey, 1891-1953

    Austria : Challenge Classics, 2015
    Other Authors:
    Format: Audio


  2. 2

    Overture on Hebrew themes, for clarinet, string quartet and piano. Op. 34. by Prokofiev, Sergey, 1891-1953

    New York, International Music Co. 1947
    Format: Musical Score Book


  3. 3

    Sonata, dli︠a︡ skripki solo, [op. 115, (1947)] = Sonata, for violin solo ; Sonata, dli︠a︡ 2 skripok, [op. 56, (1932)] = Sonata, for two violins by Prokofiev, Sergey, 1891-1953

    Moskva : Muzyka, 1975
    Other Authors: “…Prokofiev, Sergey, 1891-1953…”
    Format: Musical Score Book


  4. 4

    Klavierkonzert no. 1, Des-Dur, op. 10 = Piano concerto no. 1, d flat major = Concert pour piano no. 1, re bémol majeur by Prokofiev, Sergey, 1891-1953

    Bad Godesberg : New York : R. Forberg ; C.F. Peters, sole agent, 1951
    Format: Musical Score Book


  5. 5

    Sonata no. 3 in A minor, opus 28, for the piano by Prokofiev, Sergey, 1891-1953

    New York City : International Music Co., 1958
    Format: Musical Score Book


  6. 6

    Sonata no. 3 : (from old notebooks) for piano by Prokofiev, Sergey, 1891-1953

    New York : Leeds Music, 1945
    Am Rus edition.
    Format: Musical Score Book


  7. 7

    Peter and the wolf by Prokofiev, Sergey, 1891-1953

    Washington DC : Magic Maestro Music, 2007
    Format: Audio


  8. 8
  9. 9

    Cinderella by Prokofiev, Sergey, 1891-1953

    [United States] : Consonance, 1995
    Other Authors:
    Format: Audio


  10. 10

    Piano concertos nos. 1-5 by Prokofiev, Sergey, 1891-1953

    Essex : Chandos, 2014
    Format: Audio


  11. 11

    Symphony no. 5, in B flat major, op. 100. by Prokofiev, Sergey, 1891-1953

    Format: Audio


  12. 12

    Menuhin conducts Prokofiev. by Prokofiev, Sergey, 1891-1953

    Wyastone Leys, Monmouth : Nimbus, 1989
    Other Authors:
    Format: Audio


  13. 13

    Concerto no. 4 for piano (left hand) and orchestra, op. 53 in B♭ major by Prokofiev, Sergey, 1891-1953

    Melville, N.Y. : Belwin Mills, 1979
    Format: Musical Score Book


  14. 14

    Peter and the wolf : a Prokofiev fantasy. by Prokofiev, Sergey, 1891-1953

    [Germany] : Deutsche Grammophon, 2007
    Format: DVD


  15. 15

    Piano concerto no. 3, C major, op. 26. by Prokofiev, Sergey, 1891-1953

    Format: Musical Score Book


  16. 16

    Symphonie classique by Prokofiev, Sergey, 1891-1953

    [Germany] : Teldec, 1993
    Format: Audio


  17. 17

    Two pieces, op. 3, for piano solo by Prokofiev, Sergey, 1891-1953

    New York, N.Y. : Edwin F. Kalmus, 1940
    Original version, unedited.
    Other Authors: “…Prokofiev, Sergey, 1891-1953…”
    Format: Musical Score Book


  18. 18

    Alexander Nevsky cantata ; Lieutenant Kijé : suite by Prokofiev, Sergey, 1891-1953

    [Hong Kong] : Naxos, 1995
    Other Authors:
    Format: Audio


  19. 19

    The love of three oranges by Prokofiev, Sergey, 1891-1953

    West Long Branch, NJ : Kultur, 2009
    Format: DVD


  20. 20

    Suite du ballet Chout, op. 21bis by Prokofiev, Sergey, 1891-1953

    London ; New York : Boosey & Hawkes, 1947
    Format: Musical Score Book